Patrick McVey
Encyclopedia
Patrick McVey was an American actor
who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961, Big Town
, Boots and Saddles
, and Manhunt.
in Allen County
in northeastern Indiana
. He had experience on stage prior to his film debut in 1941, when he made uncredited appearances in eight films, beginning with Caught in the Draft. More than a dozen uncredited film roles followed in 1942. In 1946, he appeared in director Jean Yarbrough
's thriller, The Brute Man
. McVey seldom rose above supporting player roles in films but had more success on television.
In 1950, McVey starred in his first television role as Harry Martin in the episode "Edge of Panic" of the early but long-running CBS
series Suspense
. That same year, he began a four-year role (160 episodes) as Steve Wilson, the crusading managing editor
of the fictitious Illustrated Press, in Big Town
, a melodrama
set in a newspaper office in a large American city. He left the series in 1954. That same year, McVey appeared in two episodes of NBC
's Kraft Television Theater. Thereafter, McVey guest starred on The Gale Storm Show
, The Millionaire, Playhouse 90
, and in four Westerns
: The Restless Gun
, Man Without a Gun
, Sugarfoot
, and Bat Masterson
.
From 1957 to 1958, McVey co-starred in the syndicated series Boots and Saddles as Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Hayes. After the series ended in 1958, McVey was cast as police reporter Ben Andrews in another syndicated series, Manhunt. Manhunt was canceled in 1961, and McVey continued his career with guest roles on various television series including
General Electric Theater
, Cheyenne
, The Rifleman
, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Virginian
, and Gunsmoke
.
McVey's last television roles were in the CBS drama The Nurses
, and as the character John Harris in the ABC soap opera
Dark Shadows
(1966). In 1968, he was cast in Frank Sinatra
's The Detective
. McVey made his last on-screen appearance in the 1973 film Bang the Drum Slowly
.
performer. On July 6, 1973, McVey died in New York City at the age of 63.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961, Big Town
Big Town
Big Town is a popular long-running radio drama series which was later adapted to both film and television and a comic book published by DC Comics.-Radio:...
, Boots and Saddles
Boots and Saddles (TV series)
Boots and Saddles is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1957 to 1958. The series was created by Robert A. Cinader.-Synopsis:...
, and Manhunt.
Early life and career
McVey was born in Fort WayneFort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
in Allen County
Allen County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 331,849 people, 128,745 households, and 86,259 families residing in the county. The population density was 505 people per square mile . There were 138,905 housing units at an average density of 211 per square mile...
in northeastern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. He had experience on stage prior to his film debut in 1941, when he made uncredited appearances in eight films, beginning with Caught in the Draft. More than a dozen uncredited film roles followed in 1942. In 1946, he appeared in director Jean Yarbrough
Jean Yarbrough
Jean Yarbrough was an American film director.-Biography:He was born in Marianna, the seat of Lee County in southeastern Arkansas. After attending the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, he entered the film business in 1922, first as a propman, but he steadily rose in the ranks to...
's thriller, The Brute Man
The Brute Man
The Brute Man is a 1946 American horror thriller film starring Rondo Hatton as the Creeper, a murderer seeking revenge against the people he holds responsible for the disfigurement of his face. Directed by Jean Yarbrough, the film features Tom Neal and Jan Wiley as a married pair of friends the...
. McVey seldom rose above supporting player roles in films but had more success on television.
In 1950, McVey starred in his first television role as Harry Martin in the episode "Edge of Panic" of the early but long-running CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
series Suspense
Suspense (US TV series)
Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Like many early television programs, the show was broadcast live from New York City...
. That same year, he began a four-year role (160 episodes) as Steve Wilson, the crusading managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
of the fictitious Illustrated Press, in Big Town
Big Town
Big Town is a popular long-running radio drama series which was later adapted to both film and television and a comic book published by DC Comics.-Radio:...
, a melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
set in a newspaper office in a large American city. He left the series in 1954. That same year, McVey appeared in two episodes of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Kraft Television Theater. Thereafter, McVey guest starred on The Gale Storm Show
The Gale Storm Show
The Gale Storm Show is an American sitcom starring Gale Storm. The series premiered on September 29, 1956, and ran until 1960 for 143 half-hour black-and-white episodes, initially on CBS and in its last year on ABC...
, The Millionaire, Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
, and in four Westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
: The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
, Man Without a Gun
Man Without a Gun
Man Without a Gun is a western television series produced by 20th Century Fox television and presented in first-run syndication in the United States from 1957 to 1959...
, Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson...
, and Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson (TV series)
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
.
From 1957 to 1958, McVey co-starred in the syndicated series Boots and Saddles as Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Hayes. After the series ended in 1958, McVey was cast as police reporter Ben Andrews in another syndicated series, Manhunt. Manhunt was canceled in 1961, and McVey continued his career with guest roles on various television series including
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...
, Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
, The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, and Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
.
McVey's last television roles were in the CBS drama The Nurses
The Nurses (Primetime CBS drama)
The Nurses is a serialized primetime medical drama which aired on CBS from September 27, 1962 to May 11, 1965. It was originally called The Nurses when it premiered in 1962; for the second season, the title was expanded to The Doctors and the Nurses and it ran until 1965, when it was transformed...
, and as the character John Harris in the ABC soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
(1966). In 1968, he was cast in Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
's The Detective
The Detective (1968 film)
The Detective is a 1968 film directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by Aaron Rosenberg and starring Frank Sinatra, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp.Co-stars include Lee Remick, Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Klugman and Robert Duvall....
. McVey made his last on-screen appearance in the 1973 film Bang the Drum Slowly
Bang the Drum Slowly (film)
Bang the Drum Slowly is a 1973 film adaptation of the 1956 baseball novel of the same name by Mark Harris. It was previously dramatized in 1956 on the U.S. Steel Hour with Paul Newman and Albert Salmi....
.
Personal life and death
McVey was married to Courteen Landis, a BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
performer. On July 6, 1973, McVey died in New York City at the age of 63.